Inside The Bills

Washington QB Robert Griffin III was asked about wanting to get his first NFL hits from defensive players out of the way in his first preseason game against the Bills. If Griffin had it his way he wouldn’t take any hits.

“To be honest, if I don’t get hit in the preseason, I would be very OK with that,” Griffin III told the DC Examiner. “It’s football, you play it and hits are going to hurt. Sometimes guys are going to unload on you. You just have to be ready for that. I am not going to go in the game saying, ‘I hope Marcell Dareus hits me as hard as he possibly can.’ That’s not going to come out of my mouth. I look forward to going out there and playing. If I get hit, I get hit. If I don’t, thank God.”

Someone might want to remind the Heisman trophy winner that there are few other guys to worry about on that Bills defensive line besides just Dareus.

While all the eyeballs at the Baylor pro day today will gravitate toward Robert Griffin III, NFL scouts will be taking a much more focused look at his go to wide receiver.

Kendall Wright is coming off a Combine workout in which he put up a disappointing 4.61 40-time. The draftniks say Wright plays faster than he times, but there’s no doubt scouts would feel a lot better if Wright put up a better 40 time today. It also couldn’t hurt to see him put up some more reps on the bench after managing just 11. He’s likely to stand on his vertical leap and broad jump numbers of 38 inches and 10 feet, as they help convince talent evaluators of his explosiveness.

“This is a big day for Kendall Wright, a potential first-round wide receiver who ran poorly at the Combine,” said NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock. “He needs to run a better 40 and needs to catch the ball from Robert Griffin, run routes, run verticals, and get in and out of breaks. It’s also a big day for offensive lineman Philip Blake and tailback Terrance Ganaway.”

Blake is one of the top centers in the draft class. Ganaway is considered a 4th or 5th round RB prospect.

The Bills and every other NFL club at the Combine can interview up to 60 players and Buffalo apparently chose to interview one of the top quarterbacks in the draft pool.

Heisman trophy winner Robert Griffin III confirmed to the NFL Network that the Bills were one of several teams that interviewed him. In all likelihood it’s Buffalo doing their typical due diligence in the pre-draft process as it would take a king’s ransom to get up to the number two pick from 10th overall.

Robert Griffin III is pretty much a consensus top 5 pick, so it’s no surprise that a lot of NFL people like him a lot. Former NFL head coach and current NFL Network analyst Brian Billick feels he’s the best passing athletic quarterback in a long time.

“I’m very intrigued by him,” said Billick. “We tend to clump players together. So any time you talk about an athletic quarterback – Oh, he’s this. He’s counter to that. This is the best. When you tlak about the Michael Vicks or the Cam Newtons or the athletic quarterbacks, this is the best throwing athlete I’ve seen come out in awhile. Far better than Michael Vick in my opinion. Far better than Cam Newton. Very intrigued. This guy has as pure a throwing motion for an athletic quarterback as I’ve seen in a long time. Clearly has the intelligence to transition. Very intrigued with him as the potential in the NFL. Will translate into the NFL very well.”

On a nearly two-hour conference call ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper answered just about everything under the sun with respect to the 2012 NFL draft class. Naturally the subject of Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III came up. Kiper was asked if there’s any way that RG III overtakes Luck for the top spot in the draft. I think everyone knows the answer.

“Andrew Luck is the best quarterback grade I’ve given in 35 years of doing this,” Kiper said. “Andrew Luck is viewed as a more athletic Peyton Manning. You cannot pass on Andrew Luck. I haven’t given a grade as high as Luck since 1983 and that was John Elway.”

As for Griffin it seems the only questions on him involve his true measured height per Kiper.

“I thought he was a quarterback all along,” Kiper said. “I think the fact that he can throw that deep ball so accurately, he’s a straight line guy in terms of mobility. He was a hurdler. He’s not Michael Vick. He doesn’t change direction and isn’t as explosive in and out of his cuts as Vick. Vick is the best running quarterback I’ve ever seen, but RG III is a much better passer. That’s why he has such a high grade.

“His mobility is excellent. He can make people miss. He’s not as dynamic a runner as Vick. Certainly his intelligence, character and game management is all excellent. His height isn’t ideal, he’s listed as 6’2”. If he’s not then there won’t be that buzz. It is what it is.”